You Remind Me of Someone

This is pitiful. What do you think you're doing?

......

This seems a little harsh...

You're on half rations for the week. We can't be handing out free meals to an incompetent like you.

You have one shot at redemption. Don't blow it.

Ah, whoops! Are you all right?

Oh... I wasn't looking where I was going. Sorry...

Do be careful. You wouldn't want to fall over and muddy your clothes.

You were being yelled at just now, huh. Don't let that get you down!

I can't even do my job, how am I supposed to... *sniff*

Job? What job is this?

B-But!

I've gotta get better at it! I've gotta work harder!

I'm going now!

Wait. You've dropped something.

When you collided with my friend, your hair clip fell out.

O-Oh, did it? Thank you.

Let me fix it for you. Turn around a moment.

Let your hair get messy at your peril, young lady. There. All nice again.

Yep, everyone knows that by now.

Aldo, this is yours.

...Huh? My wallet? When did you take it?

Just now, not from you though, from that girl. She was quite skillful about taking it, so I don't blame you for not noticing.

Oh! Yeah, I didn't notice at all. Thanks for that, Felmina. I guess we know what her job is now. It's terrible that children are doing that kind of thing, though.

To be so skillful at her age is unusual. It might be that she's more than a mere thief...

What do you mean?

I don't know. She reminds me of someone. In any case, it's a miserable way of life, a life of thievery and deception. I'd like to do something for her, if we can. Let's go and catch up to her.

That's her, there!

Huh?! They're after me!

Hey, you don't need to run!

Hm!

Nice one, Felmina.

I don't see how you could have gotten here so fast though...

I'm sorry for what I did. Please don't get angry at me, I'll give it back!

What's this you'll give back? I don't believe you have anything of ours.

Mhmmm... Huh? I don't...? Where is it?!

We're not the town guard. We just want to know why you're doing this.

...Huh?

There's got to be a better way of life for you. Don't you think stealing is a mean thing to do?

...... But... My mommy and daddy are gone...

......

How else am I supposed to live?! I've gotta do what I'm told, or I'll get in trouble and I won't get any food! I don't want to do mean things, but I don't have a choice!

You don't think you have a choice... You know, I knew a girl who went through what you're going through right now.

Huh?

She did some bad things, worse than thievery, all just to make it through to the next day.

*sigh* This kind of thing makes me so sad...

Felmina, this isn't right. Shouldn't we do something?

It doesn't bode well for the future of our kingdom if we have young children growing up in circumstances like these. Have things always been like this, since you lost your parents?

It's been like this for as long as I can remember...

This is awful! How could this have been allowed to go on!

If no one else is willing to take responsibility, it'll have to be us.

Please take us to that man from earlier. We'd like to talk to him.

But... Then...

We're going to help you get out of this, trust us.

Got it!

Follow me!

Come on, Aldo.

Have you got some business with me?

We know what you're doing. You must stop.

Oh, you little idiot! What do you think you're doing dragging these clowns into my affairs!

*sniff* *sob*

It's a simple request. I won't allow you to keep this girl in slavery any longer.

Ahah... Ahahahaha. Oh deary, deary me. I'll have you know that this girl is very useful to my business. Sorry to rain on your parade, but she ain't going nowhere.

You monster!

Aldo, no violence. We have to resolve this as amicably as possible.

But we can't just let him get away with this!

Let me handle this, please.

Okay, so suppose we offer you something in exchange for her freedom.

You want to trade for her? Well, if you can get me something of equal value... Yeah, sure, why not.

You know the medicine "Heaven's Iris"?

I know it, yes.

If you can get me that, we have a deal. It oughta make me enough at market to compensate for the loss of the brat.

Fine. We'll bring it to you here.

What a pair of chumps you are. Poking your noses into my affairs... What use is the girl to you, anyway? You'll be coming out of this short-changed, you know. Oh well, I'll just thank my lucky stars that chumps like you exist.

I can't believe we're doing a deal with a scoundrel like that.

Calm down. We have a perfectly acceptable agreement.

If we can actually get this medicine, then sure.

It should be doable. We can find the ingredient we need in the Nuaru Uplands.

Let's get going right now. I don't want to leave her around a scoundrel like that any longer than necessary.

We'll be back soon. Wait for us.

Uh...right!

So Heaven's Iris is a herbal medicine?

Actually, we've come here to obtain the nails of a bird that dwells in this region. It's called the Rainbow Roc. There's a high concentration of Prisma around here, so we can expect that their nails will be of good quality.

Okay. You really seem to know your stuff.

I've picked up a few useful things here and there throughout my life.

What now?

Look, there it is!

Okay, gonna try not to make too much of a mess with this...

Yes, please try not to kill it.

Gyyyyyyyawgh!

Got them!

So how do we make the medicine exactly?

You can leave it to me. I memorized the recipe many years ago, before I came to Miglance.

You can leave it to me. I memorized the recipe many years ago.

You have to boil them just right, then they'll produce a liquid that, when ingested, briefly grants the drinker exceptional vision, closer to that of a hawk than an ordinary human. Very useful when you have some long-range shooting to do.

Long-range shooting?

What would you have to do that for, as a bodyguard?

When would you have ever had to do long-range shooting?

...... When I said I learned the recipe many years ago... I meant many, many years ago. When I was still a child.

What did you need it for?

For an assassination. I was a member of an Assassin's Guild.

A guild of assassins... You were an assassin?!

Yes. But that was a long time ago.

A guild of assassins... You mean Bone Wolf?

...Yes.

What?! When you were a child?

Like that girl, I didn't have any parents either. The guild provided me with food, shelter... And a thorough education on everything pertaining to assassination. That included medicine.

That can't have been a wholesome childhood...

Indeed. If I slacked off, and failed a job, I'd be thrown out. That would mean starving to death. I had to focus completely, I didn't have the time or energy to be thinking about whether what I was doing was right or wrong.

How did you get out in the end?

I eventually felt, instinctually, that I couldn't continue living as I had been. Part of it was fear: even those who were supposed to be my allies were deceiving and betraying each other incessantly. It got to me in the end. So I fled, as far as my legs would carry me. That's how I ended up in Miglance.

Hm, so when you told the girl earlier that you knew someone who went through what she's going through... You were talking about yourself. Is that why you want to help her? Because she reminds you of you?

I'd like to think I would have done something anyway, but maybe it is as you say. My hope for her is that she'll meet someone like I did, someone inspirational, who changes her life completely. Someone who makes her realize truly how vain the life she's lived until now has been; one who offers her hope for the future. That's what she needs more than anything: hope.

Well, hopefully this will be the start of a new life for her. I'm sure she'll be inspired by what you've done for her.

I'm afraid I can't be the one to save her from the darkness. I don't have it in me...

However, we do have the ingredients. So let's hurry up and deliver them.

Wait, we haven't made the medicine yet?

We don't need to. Don't worry, I have this planned out.

You've got something up your sleeve? Well, all right, let's head back to Rinde.

Huh? This is the ingredient for the medicine?

That's right. That nail is large enough to produce a substantial quantity.

Nope, this ain't what I asked for.

It's obvious that we don't trust each other. By providing you with the ingredient, I'm in effect giving you a down payment.

Yeah? But as it is, this ain't valuable enough for me to just hand over the brat.

The ingredient itself is quite valuable. You can take it now, without releasing her, and make a reasonable profit. Or, I can teach you the recipe for making the medicine, and you can make a great deal more. I'll be happy to do that as soon as you release her.

You've got a decent brain on ya, ain't'cha. All right, on your way then, kid.

Now tell me the recipe.

The first step is to finely slice the nails up. I'll show you...

...It's done. You can test the effects for yourself.

Yeah, let's have a try...

My eyes! Blimey, everything's so sharp! This Heaven's Iris stuff is miraculous! I'm gonna be raking it in thanks to this.

And you'll have nothing more to do with her, is that clear?

Meh. I thought having a lackey would make my life easy, but the brat's been nothing but trouble. Compared to this medicine, she's almost completely worthless. Take her if you want her that much.

Good. One other thing.

Yeah, go on.

It seems you weren't aware, but I'm actually bounty hunter. And I have just learned there's a price on your head.

Um, what now?

It shouldn't surprise you. Enforcing child slavery is villainy of the lowest sort. You have no right to complain. Any last words?

Last words? Get out of here! I'm not having this!

There he goes...

For good, I hope. I needed to do that to ensure her safety.

Is giving a medicine you use for assassinations to a criminal really such a good idea?

There's no problem at all. Seeing as the nails I gave him were fake.

Really? How come he said his vision got sharper?

Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for us, he seemed to know very little about Heaven's Iris. He probably just overheard somewhere that he could sell it for a lot of money.

If he knew what he was looking for, he would have been able to see that what I gave him was an ordinary medicine for tired eyes.

For such a scoundrel he really was quite gullible.

Making concessions to him probably softened him up. He wasn't being as critical as he might have been otherwise.

Are you really a bounty hunter, miss?

No, that's not true. She just said that to scare him off.

He believed me because I proved myself to be trustworthy with everything else I did.

I guess he must have believed that you were going to take him down right there and then. You weren't though, right?

If I had done, it wouldn't have been unjustified.

Now, more importantly, we need to seriously consider what we're going to do with this young lady here.

To be honest, I don't think we can take her around with us.

With skillful hands like yours, I know somewhere where you'll be useful for the meantime. Eventually, though, wouldn't you like to decide for yourself what you'd like to do?

You aren't going to take her on as your apprentice?

I'm not sure that's such a good idea. I'm going to look out for her, of course. But I think it's better if she decides for herself what she'd like to do.

That sounds reasonable.

So... What am I going to do now?

I know someone who will be able to look after you. I'll come and visit you as much as I can, and you can help me out with some of my work. But you must be well behaved, promise?

Will I be able to get food?

You will, yes. Three filling and nutritious meals a day.

...... And no one will get angry at me?

Only when you misbehave. You'll be treated well, I promise.

Sounds...good.

Okay, good.

Umm... Miss... You said you knew a girl like me, right? What happened to her?

Things worked out well for her. One day, a very special person came into her life, and changed it forever. She told me she's very happy right now, because she's able to help the person she likes most of all.

I'm going to assume you're just ill-informed. These are regular eye drops. Anyone can see that.

Then that means... I've been had!

She'll pay for this. With the kid now in her care, the guild has a very well-placed spy. They'll no doubt show their appreciation by giving me a nice, fat bonus.

Guess I'll go report to that contact of mine!

Guh...?!

Sorry, but I'd say you've outlived your usefulness now. Good job, though.